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Friday, October 17, 2014

Celebrating the Poetry of Paul Fleischman

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to hear celebrated author and poet Paul Fleischman speak about two big influences in his life: his father, author Sid Fleischman, and his editor, Charlotte Zolotow. My students love his poems for two voices, especially from the Newbery Award-winning Joyful Noise: poems for two voices.

Joyful Noise: poems for two voices is an incredible collection of two-voice poems about insects and their lives, and the poems are a wonderful blend of information and lyricism. It is a follow-up to I am Phoenix: poems for two voices, which contains all poems about birds. Two-voice poems are a great tool to use to build fluency with students, as the rhythm and repetition helps them understand how to read and understand the words, and the natural desire to practice and perform encourages children to read these poems out loud again and again.

Last year for our annual play performed by the first through fourth graders, we decided to use poetry as our theme. Each grade level presented works by one or two different poets, as well as a little introduction about his/her life and inspiration, and Paul Fleischman was one of the poets shared by my third graders. We presented the Water Striders poem, above, as well as the Water Boatmen. (Book Lice and the Honeybees are other perpetual favorites.)

So, at last night's talk, I was thrilled to discover that Paul Fleischman had written another poetry book, this one with poems for FOUR voices! In Big Talk: poems for four voices the poems are presented much like a musical score. You read across your colored line, and the other three voices follow below. This format allows for a variety of choral poetry combinations, including single, paired, and all four voices. I am really excited to introduce my students to this book today during Poetry Friday!

I can see how this would be so much fun to read and perform with a bunch of kids. Paul Fleischman and his two-voice poems are new to me. I learn about some new poet or form each Poetry Friday. Thanks for this, Katie.

It was a great talk, and I enjoyed hearing more about his new book, Eyes Wide Open, at a talk this morning. My kids did a great job as a class reading the four-voice poem, but I also had to gesture quite a bit like a poem-conductor. They enjoyed the challenge!

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Logo / naut: word sailor. Logonauts celebrate the power of words and language. Join us on this journey through words, books, and geography in elementary and middle school. Read more in the About Me page.

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